Worried your grammar isn’t up to par? well, you’re probably not the only one.
Just because we’re native speakers or fluent English speakers doesn’t always mean we’re brilliant grammarians.
You are reading: Teaching english grammar books
This is something that many new Tefl teachers will have to accept when they start. therefore, it’s better to study now, rather than potentially being embarrassed in front of the class by a smart ten-year-old who knows more than you.
Here are five books to read before you leave for your teaching position that will give you a little more confidence.
1. practical use of english – michael swan
Often referred to as “the bible of English grammar”, this book is good for quick reference rather than reading through, as it has over 600 pages of technical grammar points (although I actually read every page, as I had a lot of free time during confinement).
For example, imagine that you have to teach a class on the future perfect tense, simply go to the corresponding section and study. despite being so long, it is very fast to find what you are looking for, so much so that you could even do it secretly in the middle of a class.
If you look at the image below, I think you can understand what I mean by it being a bit dense. but like I said, the book covers so many points at once that it’s easy to navigate, meaning you can pinpoint exactly what you want through the contents/index pages.
2. oxford a-z of grammar and punctuation – john seely
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Do you know the difference between a semicolon and a colon? I’d say about half of the semicolons I see are used incorrectly. if you don’t know how to use them, try reading this book.
This is really just a condensed version of the practical use of English. it has a very similar layout and style, although it includes additional information about punctuation, which might be useful in some advanced teaching situations.
Take a look at the image below to get an idea of the layout. main headings (main punctuation points) are printed in tinted boxes. many grammar books I have read seem to omit or at least only touch on punctuation points. this book does a good job of covering both grammar and punctuation in a concise way.
The book is also less than half the physical size of practical English usage, making it more suitcase-friendly.
3. the english times – phil williams
If all the different tenses really annoy you, this is the book for you. I know I definitely struggled with the times. but after reading this one (and, to be fair, the other books on this list too), I feel much more confident. Dedicated only to verb tenses and with only 133 pages, the book is ideal to read in one sitting and understand everything quickly.
see the image below to see an example of the layout. Each tense has handy grids to show you all the different sentence types in that tense. there are also detailed paragraphs after the grids that explain things in more depth.
4. the best grammar book ever! – arlene miller
the title says it all. this might be my favorite book on this list. it’s a pretty simple concept: there’s a theory section and a practice section. in fact, I really enjoyed testing myself and trying to beat my correct answer scores with the practices (I’ve really had a lot of free time during lockdown). You could even use the practice exercises when teaching in class. look at the image below to see how there is a paragraph on the theory of transitive and intransitive verbs, then there is the practice section to test you.
as you can guess from the style of the title, the book is written in a fun and easy to read way. you should be able to see from the image that everything is written as simply as possible. Intransitive and transitive verbs have always seemed complicated to me, but you can see here that they are explained in a simple way.
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The book is also quite short at 180 pages. not much about the times there. but overall I highly recommend it.
5. grammar games – mario rinvolucri
This book is pretty outdated and I’m sure you could easily find many more games online with the click of a button. but I’ve still found it worth reading.
While there is nothing for you to really study in the book, you can actually learn just by studying the games. I discovered that it is as if you are acting out the games in your head. There have been a couple of sticky grammatical points in my head that have become clearer by imagining them in one of these games. I guess that proves the games are pretty good.
For example, the following image shows a game about phrasal verbs, which is something I’ve had trouble with before. The game consists of students thinking of the best sentences to describe what the phrasal verbs literally mean. I put myself in the shoes of the students and wrote my own sentences.
try it
Reading isn’t for everyone, and that’s okay. As I mentioned, you can usually find everything you need online. but I like to study books because everything you need to know has been collected for you in one place, instead of searching for it on the internet. books also take you away from computer screens, something most people struggle with these days.
if you have free time and you really care about your grammar while working as a teacher, you might as well try some of them.
you can get them all for less than ten pounds except for the practical use in English, which is a bit more expensive.
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